John wrote: Akash Ramjet engine is also based on older design compare that with Brahmos liquid fueled Ramjet engine which has far higher burn time and speed.

Could you explain this please? I don't think we should compare solid fuel ducted motors with liquid fueled ramjet motors. How is the rocket motor of Akash inferior to that of SFDR/Meteor. The propellant is not boron-enriched, but the airframe itself can take a wider can handle side slip and negative AoA better.

Looking at the picture, the booster seems to be only for land based launches. Does this mean in a2a, booster is not required and aircraft speed is enough to ignite the engines? This should mean the minimum speed to ignite is less than the aircraft stall speed.

The technology demonstrator flight test of ‘Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR)’ propulsion based missile has been carried out successfully from the Launch Center-III of ITR, Chandipur, Orissa on yesterday. The flight test met all the mission objectives. The technology of nozzle less booster has been successfully demonstrated in the mission for the first time in the country.

srin wrote:How is a ramjet powered missile better than a dual pulse rocket powered one ? Compare Akash and LR-SAM, where DRDO developed the propulsion in both cases. LRSAM is almost one-third the weight (275kg vs 720kg), but has three times the range (80km vs 25km) for the same warhead (all wiki specs onlee). I'd have thought that Akash would be lighter since it doesn't have to carry the oxidiser ...

Adding SFDR to the mix, how would it really compare against (as someone mentioned above) a multi-pulse rocket motor ? Would its weight class be LRSAM'ish or Akash'ish ?

The jury on the advantages of rocket vs ramjet propulsion is still out. Ramjet gives much higher efficiency, so the missile has much more residual energy for the endgame. Rockets give higher acceleration and not prone to airflow distortions in the intakes. It is generally believed the Meteor is currently the worlds best AAM. Now SFDR has displayed all its characteristics.

Sorry IR, in this I'm novice onlee. Too many things I don't understand.

While the engineer in me looks at the technologies, there is the jingo in me wondering: which of Akash or LRSAM offers highest probability of kill for a target say 25 km away and say 10km altitude ? How does constant steady ramjet burn (but with low-G banking turns to keep the ramjet alight) compare with high accel+coast+again high accel dual-pulse rocket motor (with high G skid turn) at a third of its projected range.

Is a direct trajectory better than coast in stratosphere and drop down with high G ? I don't know.

The other important technological developmentof this period was the air-breathing throttledrocket ramjet engine. Vympel made the criticalbreakthrough during the 1990s and widely marketedthe RVV-AE-PD or ‘ramjet Adder’, subsequentlylicencing the technology to the French, via ONERA,who used it in the MBDA Meteor missile for theEurofighter Typhoon, Dassault Rafale and SAABGripen Eurocanards. While the Russian missile hasyet to appear outside mockups, the Meteor is nowwell into its development with an IOC planned for2013

Nozzleless booster is part of the missile. The one seen in the image is ground launch booster. The booster on the missile is not powerful enough to kick off the ramjet, while firing from the ground.So the ground launch booster is doing the job of jet firing.

The report says the ground launcher did not seperate. So nozzle less booster wouldn't have kicked in.

If you watch meteor videos, its launch is through a high power booster in the missile, very smoky compared to clean burn on astra.

If the nozzle less booster worked, thrn launch booster separated and reporter is talking nonsense.

Singha wrote:ET today reports only the nozzle less booster worked the second stage ramjet failed and it crashed

Nozzle less booster indicates the first stage is also a ramjet fed by the nozzles

So its a akash tipped with a meteor fed by common nozzle

Common nozzle?Ramjet has its own.

The report is not comprehensive.

It says ramjet did not work as booster stage separation fid not occur. Led to tumbling.All from telemetry.However does not clearly state if rather ignition occurred.Usually separation and ignition are given at same time. Departing stage ignition propels it forward.

So they need to think it over why separation didn't occur?Did ramjet ignite or not? Was signal sent and received?

After reading this, go back to the schematic posted by IR above, you will see the nozzle less booster in it.

Thanks. Glanced at the article and got a fair bit of idea. Nozzle less leads to 15% less thrust so more fuel needed. Ramjet lacks oxidiser so more fuel can be carried. So the whole challenge is to match and optimise!

I don't think we get anything like this during mentioned time line. but recent SFDR can be that test

That test was postponed and the new date coincide with that of SFDR test ...... range was for 50km ... so its safe to assume that ramjet was not tested and only the nozzleless booster test was conducted.

https://twitter.com/kurup89/status/998554245237374978

similarly on this no info so far , got cancelled?

The only test that coincide with this one is the last test of Brahmos .

There was another 5K NOTAM that was deciphered by Kurup and corresponds to this test.

It ahs always been conjectured that this missile has at least an 8k range and is being purposely being underestimated. Official statement is it is a 5K+ missile whatever 5K+ means probably being lobbed in a depressed or overly high inefficient trajectory

The long-range ballistic missile has a strike range of 5,000 kmIndia on Sunday successfully test-fired from Dr. Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast, its indigenously developed nuclear-capable long-range ballistic missile Agni-5 with a strike range of 5,000 km.

The surface-to-surface missile was launched with the help of a mobile launcher from launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Dr. Abdul Kalam Island in the Bay of Bengal at 9.48 am, defence sources said.

Trial a ‘total success’This was the sixth trial of the state-of-the-art Agni-5. The missile covered its full distance during the trial which was a total success, they said.

“The flight performance of the missile was tracked and monitored by radars, tracking instruments and observation stations all through the mission,” the sources said.

Unlike other missiles of the series, Agni-5 is the most advanced with new technologies in terms of navigation and guidance, warhead and engine, said a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) official.

Earlier today, the Agni-V Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) successfully underwent what is being called a ‘pre-induction trial’, a sort of user assisted trial, that has taken it closer to deployment with India’s Strategic Forces Command (SFC), which is the ‘user’ in question. This launch was also the third successful launch in-a-row from a canisterized road-mobile launcher. Moreover, this test-flight seems to indicate that residual problems with the Agni-V’s primary battery supplying on-board electrical power have also been resolved.

The development of the Agni-V Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) certainly marks the arrival of India as a missile power. With a range of ‘easily more than 5,500 km’, the Agni-V clearly confers upon India the ability to hold all of China’s Eastern Seaboard cities at risk from Peninsular India. But then, there is more to this missile than its range capability. In technological terms, this missile represents the coming of age for India of a very long range payload delivery capability that is both rather accurate as well as survivable. Let us take a closer look at some of the Agni-V’s technological features of significance.

Guidance

The missile has a contemporary guidance package that utilizes an indigenous ring laser gyroscope based inertial navigation system (RLG-INS) developed by DRDO’s Research Center Imarat (RCI) in Hyderabad. For redundancy it also has a micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS)- based inertial measurement unit (IMU) called micro inertial navigation system (MINGS) that has been developed by RCI.

Both the RLG-INS and MINGS are capable of receiving multi-constellation updates from satellite navigation systems such as the American GPS and the Russian GLONASS as well as India’s satellite based augmentation system, GAGAN, to remove accumulated errors in their measurements.

The superior accuracy of the Agni V can also be attributed to the incorporation of a system on chip (SOC) based on-board computer (OBC) that weighs just 200 grams and boasts 6-7 times greater processor capability than legacy printed-circuit board (PCB) based systems which could weigh up to 5 kgs. This SOC-OBC has robust communication interfaces such as a three-channel bus etc and runs on fault-tolerant software. The embedded SOC concept used for both guidance and control requires very little power and gives far greater leeway in warhead configuration besides enhancing efficiency.

Use of Composites

Agni-V is not just more accurate, but is also more reliable and indeed survivable than legacy strategic missiles in the Indian Arsenal. While its 2.0 metre (m) diameter first stage motor is made of 250 grade maraging steel, its second and third stages have carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) casings.The second stage also has a diameter of 2.0 m. The total burn time for all three stages together is estimated to be close to four minutes.

The use of CFRP stages facilitates greater fuel fraction, enhancing range capability. In the future, even the first stage of the Agni-V will use carbon composite motor casings and that would take care of the issue of corrosion altogether and enhance overall structural integrity. The Agni-V also relies on digitally connected multi-channel communications within its body for the control system, thereby reducing a lot of the cabling that would have otherwise gone into such a missile. This serves to reduce the risk of failure in the missile system and increases dependability.

These features have all been validated in today’s launch, which was the fifth consecutive successful test of this missile overall. The use of corrosion-resistant composites and digital connectivity within the missile makes it easier to turn the Agni-V into a classic ‘wooden round’ – that is a canisterised missile system transportable by road and rail ready to launch on demand, with an almost maintenance free stowage and storage life of 10 years or so.

Cold launch scheme

Agni-V in canisterised configuration consists of a mission ready missile and a gas generator for ejecting the missile out of the canister to a height of about 30 metres, at which point the Stage-I motor ignites, and the missile speeds towards its target. This cold launch scheme allows the missile to be launched from relatively unprepared strips. Work on a steam-gas missile ejection system is currently underway for the Agni-V and other canisterized ballistic missiles.

The missile canister itself sits on the Agni-V’s Transport-cum-Tilting vehicle-5 (TCT-5), designed and developed by DRDO’s Vehicle Research and Development Establishment, Ahmednagar.

The Agni-V missile body is 17 metres long and has a launch weight of about 50 tonnes with a 1.5 tonne payload which is adequate to carry fusion boosted fission warheads with a yield of 200-300 kilotonnes.

Survivability against emerging anti-ballistic missile threats

Now, while an Agni-V locked and loaded sitting in a canister somewhere in India is not exactly what China likes to hear first thing in the morning, the middle kingdom could actually have more to worry about. The Agni-V’s re-entry vehicle shown in previously released pictures may turn out to be rather manoeuvrable making things difficult for emerging Chinese terminal anti-ballistic missile (ABM) defences. All three stages of the Agni-V in any case have flex nozzle control systems which enhance manoeuvrability during flight.

The future?

One more ‘user assisted trial’ by SFC and DRDO will be done before the Agni-V heads into early deployment with future trials being dubbed ‘user training exercises’. It may also serve as a baseline for a longer ranged and heavier missile that will carry multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRV) and this missile may be designated Agni-VI. Despite, the Agni-V’s current potency, a MIRVed Agni-VI will be needed to guarantee penetration against China’s ABM system in the decades ahead.

At the moment, the Project Director for the Agni-V is G. Ramaguru whereas MRM Babu is the Director of the overall Agni Programme. Both of whom, along with Dr Sateesh Reddy, who is currently Scientific Adviser to the Indian Defence Minister and Director General, Missile and Strategic Systems, DRDO, were present for this morning’s Agni-V launch.

Saurav Jha is the Editor-in-Chief of Delhi Defence Review. Follow him on twitter @SJha1618

Singha wrote:does akash. sa6, brahmos all have solid fuel booster inside the ramjet combustion chamber, which burns up to impart the necessary trigger velocity and then ramjet starts in the emptied chamber ?

Akash has. Most of the space is probably taken by this booster.akash is solid ramjet.Brahmos has liquid ramjet and external droppable booster.

Sdfr SAM version, solid ramjet, internal nozzle less and droppable external booster to lift it off the ground. A better version of Akash set up. Of course ramjet on sfdr is more advanced than Akash.

I presume solid ramjets are faster than liquid ramjet. I may be wrong.